| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: she had meant.
"No, I know all is over," she said hurriedly. "No, that can never
be. I'm only tormented by the wrong I have done him. Tell him only
that I beg him to forgive, forgive, forgive me for everything...."
She trembled all over and sat down on a chair.
A sense of pity he had never before known overflowed Pierre's heart.
"I will tell him, I will tell him everything once more," said
Pierre. "But... I should like to know one thing...."
"Know what?" Natasha's eyes asked.
"I should like to know, did you love..." Pierre did not know how
to refer to Anatole and flushed at the thought of him- "did you love
War and Peace |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Pagan and Christian Creeds by Edward Carpenter: Hermes and Tat, in which they speak of the great and mystic
New Birth and Union with the All--with all Elements, Plants
and Animals, Time and Space.
"The Mysteries," says Dr. Cheetham very candidly,
"influenced Christianity considerably and modified it in some
important respects"; and Dr. Hatch, as we have seen,
not only supports this general view, but follows it
out in detail.[1] He points out that the membership of the
Mystery-societies was very numerous in the earliest times,
A.D.; that their general aims were good, including a sense of
true religion, decent life, and brotherhood; that cleanness
Pagan and Christian Creeds |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum: moment later they had rushed through the passage and
were standing in the fresh night air outside the
castle, free to go wherever they willed.
Chapter Eight
The Menace of the Forest
"Quick!" cried Polychrome the Canary; "we must hurry,
or Mrs. Yoop may find some way to recapture us, even
now. Let us get out of her Valley as soon as possible."
So they set off toward the east, moving as swiftly as
they could, and for a long time they could hear the
yells and struggles of the imprisoned Giantess. The
The Tin Woodman of Oz |
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther: that God gives Himself entire to us, with all that He has and is able
to do, to aid and direct us in keeping the Ten Commandments -- the
Father, all creatures; the Son, His entire work; and the Holy Ghost,
all His gifts.
Let this suffice concerning the Creed to lay a foundation for the
simple, that they may not be burdened, so that, if they understand the
substance of it, they themselves may afterwards strive to acquire more,
and to refer to these parts whatever they learn in the Scriptures, and
may ever grow and increase in richer understanding. For as long as we
live here, we shall daily have enough to do to preach and to learn
this.
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